Security systems are often installed within and around buildings such as commercial, residential, or governmental buildings. Examples of these buildings include offices, hospitals, warehouses, schools or universities, shopping malls, government offices, and casinos. The security systems typically include components such as access system controllers, access control readers, video surveillance cameras, network video recorders (NVRs), and door controllers, to list a few examples.
The access control readers are often installed at access points of the buildings to control access to restricted areas, such as buildings or areas of the buildings. Examples of access points include front and interior doors of the buildings, elevators, hallways connecting two areas of a building, to list a few examples. The access control readers authenticate identities of (or authorize) individuals and then permit those authenticated individuals to access the restricted areas through the access points.
Typically, individuals interact with the access control readers by swiping keycards or bringing contactless smart cards within range (approximately 2-3 inches or 5 centimeters) of the reader. The access control readers read the information of the keycards and then the access control systems determine if the individuals are authorized to access the restricted areas. If the individuals are authorized to enter the restricted areas, then the access control readers or system controller allow access to the restricted areas by unlocking locked doors, signaling that doors should be unlocked, opening elevator doors, or activating elevators.
Multifactor authentication can be a more robust approach to authenticating individuals. Simply swiping a keycard does not address the problem of stolen keycards. In contrast, multifactor authentication requires more than one mechanism of authentication from independent categories of credentials to verify the individual's identity.